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Ok, seems like many Jewish schools were not ready for the fall COVID season. Can we start helping them? For example, help them establish good ventilation – opening windows, installing MERV-13 filters, eliminating direct air flow from HVAC into people’s faces.
here is one idea (you may want to check with an HVAC expert first):
you can get $100+ CO2 and PPM (for different particle sizes) measurement device like Temtop M2000C and bring to school. Measuring CO2 level when people are there will show how much air is recirculated. Then, try increasing air intake into HVAC, opening windows or at least door to the corridor and see if CO2 goes down. May also check specific locations under air flow. PPM in presence of ventilation and closed windows will show you whether HVAC filters filter out any particles comparing with PPM without ventilation. If windows are open, PPM level will be affected by higher PPM from outside. I tried this in a couple of offices and shuls, and results were useful to ascertain effect of all actions described above.Inspections of several schools in the red zones which were operating showed that aside from the obvious lack of mask-wearing, desks were NOT spaced apart even 5 feet and that buildings with gas-fired forced air heating systems were Not using even MERV 13 air filters. If they cannot take even these minimal precautions, how can the be trusted with children. These are simple, low-cost measures that even the most mindless administrator should have required if they wanted to open.
Many schools installed polycarbonate barriers on the desks which was an option for social distancing instead of placing the desks six feet apart. This conformed with NYS guidelines.
GH – Always a pleasure to hear your ivory tower version of life in the shtetl. And i know i can always count on you for a degrading news update on the yeshiva life. Waiting for the day when you can find such commentary on some of “your own” institutions, or preferably, decide to move forward from needing to be the charedi life watch dog.
đGadolhadorah,
“Inspections of several schools in the red zones which were operating showed that aside from the obvious lack of mask-wearing, desks were NOT spaced apart even 5 feet and that buildings with gas-fired forced air heating systems were Not using even MERV 13 air filters.”
The violation notices posted on YWN mainly state that children were heard inside. How are you privy to all of this additional information? Are you just assuming these things are so?
In terms of social distancing: NYS guidelines stated that schools could choose:masks all day, polycarbonate barriers attached to desks and students wear masks when not in their barriers, or six feet of separation between desks and students wear masks when not at their desks. The guidelines also required adequate ventilation i.e. windows and doors open. Gadolhatorah stated that schools didnât have sufficient space between desks. My point is that if the school installed the barriers then they werenât required to have six feet of space between desks. Schools that conformed with NYS guidelines spent thousands of dollars on these barriers. Iâm not saying that every school developed a plan that conformed to the state guidelines but itâs not nice to disparage the schools who are making extreme efforts to keep their schools open safely.
I agree with lila. I’m waiting to hear where GH got all that “inside scoop”. Spies, talebearers? I sure hope you didn’t just make it up and present it as fact.
If you don’t like it don’t send your kids and just stay away from people with kids. The parents obviously don’t care.
Its nice that you care but you still can’t dictate what risks other people are allowed to take, we have a shas that does that for us, and rabbanim and rosh yeshivas will apply those rules for their institutions as they deem fit
In addition to physical improvements to the school HVAC systems, plexiglass enclosures, etc. there should be some effort made to provide teachers with additional training on remote instruction, whether via Zoom or even over phonelines, depending on the hashkafah of the school. Given how sudden the shutdowns occurred last March it was incredible how well many schools managed. Hopefully, we won’t have to be dealing with remote learning a year from now but ALL schools should provide both teachers, parents and students the needed resources to learn remotely, should th need arise again.
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